I was in the taxi passenger seat, watching the surroundings outside the window becoming more and more familiar, trying to ignore the annoying cabbie that was driving. Maybe I shouldn't be complaining, after all, he was driving me to my destination, but then again, who doesn't hate the cab drivers with their annoying talk and them trying to get a sneak peek into your life?

"He we are." He whistled. "Nice place…this entire town has neat digs. Visiting your rich grandma?" the sleazy cabbie grinned at me, as we were sharing a joke. I rolled my eyes.

"This is my home." I said, my voice hitching. Home. I hadn't been here in forever.

"That'll be $39." He held out his hand like a greedy kid, and I pushed the bills into his hands.

I threw open the door and stepped out, stretching my long legs after the ride.

"Don't forget me beautiful, I'm always a call away." The cab driver smiled, and I slammed the door so I couldn't listen anymore. I shivered. He was probably a pervert or pedophile. God knows what would go down if I ever came in contact with him again.

I slung my giant duffel bag over my shoulder, and picked up my suitcases in both hands, and walked up the stairs to the door. I rang the bell, and waited. Then, realizing I still had a key, I pulled it out, and put it in the lock, and to my surprise, it turned in the lock. I opened the door and entered with caution, feeling weird about being here. I clicked the door shut behind me, and called out, "Jay?"

I set down my stuff and walked around, not seeing anyone. I got upstairs, and walked past his room, the room that had always been closed from what I could recall. I put my hand on the doorjamb and opened the door and strolled in, to hear from behind me, "Mads!" in a loud tone that boomed in my ear. I whipped around, and saw my older brother standing there, with the hugest smile on his face.

"Jason!" I grinned, and threw my arms around him, hugging him tightly. "I've missed you."

"How was Cali? Any hot surfer boys?" he nudged me in the stomach, jokingly.

"I went to California for my studies." I said. Also, because of his drug use and whatever else he did, and because Ali went missing. I knew most of the people in town would recognize me immediately, and Ali's old friends would think I was their dead friend, just with dyed black-brown hair. Once you looked closer though, I looked nothing like my older sister. She was blonde, her hair was curly, mine wavy; she played sports, I read books; she hit on boys, I crashed and burned. Her eyes were a clear blue, like mine, and we both had the same noses, but besides that, our social features were different. We were considered perfect, just we looked different. I got along well my sister, always pretending to her sometimes, just saying her hair was dyed or spray-painted or something, but more often we passed each other off as fraternal twins.

Jason on the other hand, I wanted to look up to, but he pushed me away, and I eventually learned what he did behind his door from our sister. That angered me, and soon after, I got sent to California for some kind of special advanced program for kids my age, which explained why I beat out the Hasting's for that, but then again- DiLaurentis and Hastings were very much alike…just not as uptight. We just naturally excelled, while the Hastings had to work for it, if not the tiniest bit.

Soon after I left, I learned of Ali's disappearance, and then a year later, she was found dead in our backyard. Jason moved back home, and he called me up one day, saying it was time to come home and live with him. I agreed, only after much questioning if he was sober and such now.

So there I was. Almost two years away, and now I was here.

"I'll bring your stuff up. You go revisit your room." Jason jerked his head in the direction of down the hall.

I kissed his cheek and skipped down the hall. Fourteen years, and I'd spent about 12 years in this house…it felt like centuries since I'd been here. Plus, Mom and Dad weren't here to watch us now. Jason was my guardian now. I opened the door to my room, and it looked precisely like it had a few years ago. Harry Potter posters cluttered the walls, with a few Disney and Taylor Swift ones spread out over it to. Correction, one wall. The other three walls were a nice shade of sky blue. My twin bed had lavender sheets and a matching cover, and my desk still held my old HP laptop. I'd brought my new Dell one with me to California. Jason came in and dumped my stuff on the bed.

"Hey!" I muttered. He just smirked, and walked out, leaving me to unpack. By the time I was putting my last framed picture of my sister and me on my shelf, I heard hammering outside. Construction work always gave me a headache, so I threw open my window, but didn't see anyone, so I shut the window, and quickly scampered down the stairs and out the door. I calmly, with my arms crossed, walked out to look at the house, and saw someone, his back to me, working.

"HEY! Some of us are trying to have peace here!" I shouted. The person kept hammering away.

"Didn't you hear me?" I screamed in indignation. The boy turned around and saw me. He gasped, and I did too. It was Toby. He slid down the ladder and ran towards me.

"Mads! Jason mentioned you were coming back!" he gave me a great bear-hug.

"Yeah…best friend reunion in a bit. What's up with this?" I gestured to the ladder and hammer and other things.

"Oh. Jason is paying me to do a bit of renovation work." He shrugged.

"Tobes! That's great!" I said sincerely. We'd kept in touch, as he was my best friend in the whole world, and he told me everything that was happening in Rosewood while I was gone. But he didn't tell me he was into this kind of work. But I didn't care. I was honest and good to my friends, the main difference between Ali and me.

"You back for good?" he looked hopefully at me.

"Hopefully." I said, a shine in my eyes.

"Great."

"How's Spencer?" I asked suddenly. He launched into a long, appreciative talk about his girlfriend, and I listened quietly, adding in phrases when it was called for.

Another difference, I didn't like being the center of attention like Ali did.

Jason came out, and told Toby to get back to work. He gave me a look, and I nodded. We'd catch up later. Now, he needed to work, and I…I needed to be reacquainted with the town.